24a Education

Thursday, July 17, 2014 / REGIONAL 24 South County Leader

Diana Tate Vermeire
didnt know what to think
about a call advising her
that she had been selected
to the 2014 People of Col-
or Hot List.
She frankly admitted she
had never heard of the list
that listed people in the
mid-level management lev-
el at law rms.
Vermeire, of Counsel at
the GableGotwals Law
Firms Oklahoma City of-
ce, spends time in Tulsa
as her practice demands.
Vermeire is one of a
handful of attorneys
from various regions in
the country selected for
the list.
Doing some research,
she learned that while the
list originally opened for
African American lawyers,
it now has been expanded
to include other races.
This is not a position
that Diana applied for,
said Melissa Bogle, Gable-
Gotwals marketing direc-
tor. The selection is the
result of being nominated
by another party.
I dont know who else
was selected for the 2014
list in Oklahoma, Ver-
meire said. I did learn that
others had been chosen in
2013.
The selection by that
outside board was the
result of Vermeires work
advancing people of color
in the legal profession, not
only in Oklahoma, but also
in California and in Wash-
ington State where she be-
gan her legal career.
Vermeire attended
George Washington Uni-
versity where she earned
her law degree 14 years
ago, in 2000.
Following graduation she
moved to Seattle where she
worked as an employment
attorney and media litiga-
tor for the Davis Wright
Tremaine Law Firm.
Family ties were strong,
and she was able to trans-
fer to San Francisco where
she would be close to a
brother.
She continued her work
as an advocate in a vari-
ety of positions for the
rm before leaving to join
two non prot agencies,
rst the Lawyers for Civil
Rights in the San Francis-
co Bay Area and later the
American Civil Liberties
Union in northern Califor-
nia.
The family tug drew Ver-
meire and her husband
Adam back to her native
Edmond in 2012 and she
joined GableGotwals.
Adam is an artist and
adjunct professor of art
at University of Central
Oklahoma in Edmond and
at Oklahoma City Commu-
nity College.
Vermeire laughed when
asked about her choice of
a legal career.
I like to argue, she said.
I was good at debate
and drama while I was in
high school. I guess you
also could ask my mother
about that issue.
I was drawn to law be-
cause I liked the intel-
lectual challenge, nding
solutions and bringing
people together to resolve
issues.
Reecting on bringing
people together to resolve
issues, Vermeire said that
mediation is one of the
weaker areas in the law
that needs to be strength-
ened. Issues dont always
have to be contentious.
Undergraduate work
found Vermeire going to
the University of South-
ern California where she
earned a sociology degree
before going on to earn her
law degree.
I have had a varied ca-
reer in both the private
and non-prot world, she
said.
While with the non-prots
Vermeire was involved in
working with legislatures
on policy analysis as well
as legal and compliance
best practices work.
In addition to her work
at GableGotwals, Vermeire
also is vice chair of the
Oklahoma Bar Association
Diversity Committee.
While the legal profes-
sion is becoming more
diverse and more oppor-
tunities are available for
people of color, it has been
slow going.
The reality is there are
more people of color prac-
ticing law, more doors need
to be opened, she said.
Subtle challenges continue
to be encountered.
Vermeire admits that
while she loves her ca-
reer, she would have done
things slightly different as
she entered the profession
today.
I would advise people
(clients) to look at the
long-term impact of their
decision to litigate, she
said. Too often people
look at the immediate situ-
ation and dont consider
the future.
The honorees were
chosen through a two-
pronged process. The se-
lection committee spent
months reviewing nomi-
nations and researching
bar association publica-
tions and legal blogs in or-
der to identify promising
candidates. Nominations
from mentors, peers, and
colleagues were accept-
ed. The selection commit-
tee also made editorial
picks of attorneys who had
noteworthy accomplish-
ments, especially those
active in legal pipeline ini-
tiatives.
Lawyers of Color was ini-
tially founded as On Being
A Black Lawyer but now
also produces publications
for lawyers of South Asian
American, Pacic Asian
American, Hispanic, and
Native American heritage.
LOC has been recognized
by the American Bar As-
sociation, National Black
Law Students Association,
and National Association
of Black Journalists.
Honoree just doing her job
People of color hot list selection unexpected
RALPH SCHAFER/NEIGHBOR NEWS
Diana Tate Vermeire, GableGotwals attorney selected to the 2014 People of Color Hot List.
By Ralph Schaefer
Neighbor News
News@SouthCountyLeader.com
WW II, followed by the Ko-
rean War in the early 1950s,
generated the trained pi-
lots needed by airlines as
they expanded just before
and into the jet age that be-
gan in the 1960s.
By the mid 1980s those
pilots began retiring while
at the same time the avail-
ability of pilots trained by
military began to dwindle.
Within a few months of
each other in 2009 there
were two airline crashes
that raised the question
of pilot training Colgan
Air ight 3407 with a twin-
engine Bombardier Dash
8 turboprop near Buffalo,
N.Y. and Air France ight
447 with a twin-engine,
wide-bodied Airbus 330 jet
in the Atlantic Ocean.
Nearly a year ago Au-
gust 2013 the Federal
Aviation Administration in-
stituted new training rules
to speed up the number of
pilots qualied to y for
airlines.
The requirements include
a mix of college academic
studies and ight training
leading to an associate or
bachelors degree.
Tulsa Community College
offers such a program that
can lead to an airline job as
a co-pilot which the indus-
try refers to as rst ofcer
or second-in-command,
The FAA lists 55 other in-
stitutions in the nation that
meet its requirements.
The list includes four in
Oklahoma University of
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
University, Southeastern
Oklahoma State University
at Durant and Spartan Col-
lege of Aeronautics and
Technology. Only Florida
has ve on the list, which
also includes three other
community colleges.
Matthew A. Wise, di-
rector of TCCs Aviation
Center at Jones-Riverside
Airport and chief ight
instructor, said decision
making skills are stressed
to the aviation students in
a very structured environ-
ment.
He termed the FAA-re-
quired changes in ight
training as subtle rather
than drastic.
Aviation courses, some
of them in classrooms, rep-
resent 25 of the 62 credit
hours required for an asso-
ciate degree, which Wise
said, can seamlessly trans-
fer to OSU leading toward a
bachelors degree.
More ight hours are re-
quired by the FAA to meet
become eligible to y for
an airline.
Non-aviation courses
are in 10 elds, includ-
ing English, humanities,
mathematics, history and
speech.
Tuition for Oklahoma res-
idents is $87.22 per credit
hour with non-residents
paying $287.
Tulsa County high school
seniors may go tuition free
if they have a two-point
grade average and apply
during the senior year.
Flying time is an addition-
al cost.
Wise said the current rate
is $189 per hour in a single-
engine plane and $320 in a
twin-engine plane.
TCC aviation instruction
staff includes six full-time,
four to ve adjunct instruc-
tors and six ight instruc-
tors.
TCC operates ve 2006
single-engine Cessna 172s
which are equipped with
all glass cockpits so stu-
dents are familiar with the
advanced instrumentation
such as in a twin-engine
Boeing 737-800 jetliner,
Wise said. It also operates
a twin-engine Piper Seneca
and a Lake 4 amphibian, a
single-engine mounted in
the pusher position. It uses
Grand Lake for landing and
takeoff instruction, while
the other used designated
areas around Tulsa for
teaching some maneuvers.
Without leaving the
ground students also y
TCC ight trainers and sim-
ulators, computers repli-
cating Boeing jetliners and
are exposed to the effects
of hypoxia, loss of oxygen,
when at 25,000 feet in the
OSU altitude chamber at
Jones-Riverside Airport.
By Larry Levy
Contributing Editor
News@SouthCountyLeader.com
Pilot to co-pilot, whats your alma mater?